Primrose
by livetowrite4
Summary: Primrose Everdeen is one of the tributes of district twelve. Not even her willing sister, Katniss, can take her place. Peeta can't win the audience with a love interest, but he might save Prim by jeopardizing his familiy's reputation and ultimately his own life
1. The Odds

**The Odds**

_Breath_, I tell myself.

No matter how hard I try to calm my heart, it can't stop beating so fast. My stomach is turning and I want to sit down. I don't know these girls around me. I've seen them, but I don't know them. The Capitol video plays and President Snow's voice rings in my ears. It's the same video every year reiterating our punishment, _"one boy and one girl from every district must compete in the annual Hunger Games."_ I've been dreading this day since my twelfth birthday came up. In Panem, there are twelve districts, there used to be thirteen, but they revolted and now the rest of us have to be punished for their uprising. So every year, the Capitol has the Hunger Games, twenty-four kids are sent to the arena and only one comes out. I think it's childish that the Capitol still goes on with this stupid tradition. I think we've learned our lesson after District Thirteen was completely destroyed.

I can't concentrate with my body about to collapse. I repeat what Katniss said to me this morning, "_They won't pick you…They won't pick you."_

The video stops. Then Effie starts to talk again. She's pale and has a huge pink wig on that has flowers in it. I wonder what her head looks like without the wig. Her accent is proper like all capital people's are. She sounds strange to me. I don't want to listen to her speech. I want to go home.

I try to imagine myself at home. Katniss is singing to me and mom is in the kitchen smiling again. She's cooking dinner with what Katniss had caught and what she got from trading. Mom is humming along with Katniss. I wish I could sing like they could. Sometimes I feel left out. Katniss and mom are so alike, but they don't see it. Mom stops humming and Katniss stops singing in my head. Effie has already picked a slip from the glass bowl full of names. The anticipation is too much for me to bear and it's broken when she opens the folded paper and reads the name:

"Primerose Everdeen"

I gasp when I hear my name.

Everyone stares at me. I can feel my heart beating, trying to get out of me. It's trying to run away. Katniss told me this wouldn't happen. She promised. I only had my name in there once. It was my first year too.

Effie tells me to come up to the stage. I start moving my feet, but I can't feel them. I see Katniss. By the way she's standing, I can tell she wants to jump over the crowd of people and save me, but she can't. I can see it in her eyes. She wants to tell me something, but it is too late. It was my name she picked, no other person but me could go.

I try not to look at Katniss anymore, if I do, I might not be able to make it to the stairs without crying hysterically. Peacekeepers crowd around me once I leave the row the kids. They march at my pace moving me towards the stage. I want to back out. I want to leave. I don't want to die.

I made it to the stage. Effie takes my hand once I reach the stairs and guides me to a spot in front. Her hands are cold and her long colored nails poke my hand. The crowd looks at me with remorseful faces, some look disappointed. They don't think I'll survive.

Effie leaves my side and goes to the other bowl with the boys' names. She rummages threw and finally picks one. I hope it isn't Gale. I don't want him to have to watch over me or die for me. He's like a brother to me and I don't want him to die like that..not to save me. I'm not worth it.

"Peeta Mellark"

The crowd is silent. The name is familiar. I look around to see who it is. His head peeks out of the crowd and I recognize him. He's the boy that likes my sister. She doesn't know it, but I can tell by the way he has stared at her, practically every day. When she walks home with me after school, I look back and I always see him watching her. He never notices me looking at him because he's too 'preoccupied'. I never told her because I knew she would yell at him or get frustrated. I wish he didn't have to go to the Capitol with me. I could tell he really did like her. It's too bad he won't get to tell her.

I look out again to see my sister. I don't see any lines of tears, but only her eyes staring at me blankly. My body is shaking from fright. This might be the last day I see her.


	2. His Promise

**His Promise**

The room I am in looks like a former office. It was dark and cold. No windows, but plenty of mahogany bookshelves covered the walls. I skim through the titles of the books, all containing Panem law and regulation matters. I wait for my mother and father to appear and say good bye. I don't know if my brothers will show up. They weren't the kind of people to say goodbye, I think they got it from my mother. I hear muddled footsteps behind the door. I can't think about the situation I'm in or I might make a scene, so I concentrate on the lines on the floor and start counting them. I find counting soothing when I am stressed out. It distracts me from over thinking.

My dad comes in and hugs me as tightly as he can. I look over my shoulder. Mother stands there with her arms crossed without any compassion or remorse. She's probably happy I'm leaving, she never liked me anyways.

"Peeta, do not give up," he says in my ear, "no matter what they say or how bad your odds are, do not give up."

"Don't give him false hope," my mother says in the background.

Dad ignores her, "Look out for the little girl, Primrose."

My mother's face is full of anger and redness when Prim's name is spoken. Something tells me she is jealous.

I look at him with confused eyes, "What?"

"Just take care of her, okay? Just do it for me," I can tell he is completely serious. I don't question him again.

There is a knock on the door and the men in white suits pull them away. I can tell my father is resisting a little. The door is closed again and I am alone. I wait until the men come for me and push me onto the train. I look at the crack under the door. A shadow covers the light peeking through, then a familiar figure is in the doorway.

She comes in and I have no time to figure out why she is in my room and not her sister's. Katniss is staring at me. For the first time, she is staring at _me_ and not the other way around. She looks angry though and frustrated. I can see the strain in her eyes, but her eyes are not red from crying.

I open my mouth, but she speaks instead, "don't you dare lay a finger on my sister. Don't you dare hurt her." My heart jumps to a quicker pace as I see she is tensing up and becoming angry. I was not expecting her hostility.

"No, I would never," I respond, "who do you think I am?" I am kind of offended that she thinks I'm going to be brutal killer like the rest of the tributes will be. I'm a damn baker. I make bread. I don't kill people. I could never kill Prim, I could never kill anyone. I'm not a monster.

"Can you promise me something?" She seems stressed and nervous. she has one hand against her forehead as if she's thinking about what she is going to say.

"Yes, anything," I quickly say, almost begging for her trust.

"Watch out for her," I can tell she is hesitant on what she's about to say, "don't let her get killed."

"I promise," I respond.

She walks backwards and still looks at me. Her back is against the door and she shivers a little. My body is fighting to get up and embrace her, but my conscience reminds me of the situation I am in right now. Her sister is about to compete in a game where she'll be fighting to the death with twenty-three other children, and one of them is me. Even if I come back alive, I wouldn't have a chance with her. Why would she want me? The boy who lived instead of her sister.

Her stare is broken with the heavy steps behind the door inching toward us, "I'm done," she knocks on the door and the peacekeepers escort her out. She could never cry in front of anyone, but I can tell she was getting close to the edge. The truth is, her sister is going to die soon and she can't do anything about it. After the Capitol was accused of letting trained students volunteer to be tributes, they stopped volunteers to avoid any more uprisings.

I stare at the door. Only seconds ago she was there. She noticed me. She recognized my existence. I never expected this moment to be so melancholy. My odds were not in my favor and neither were hers nor her sisters.

Light hit my face violently when the door was opened and two men came in and informed me of my departure from District Twelve. They said a lot, but I found it hard to concentrate on there words when I could hear screams coming from the room across the hallway. I guessed it was Prim. I peeked behind them to see peacekeepers detaching Prim from Katniss. The two men noticed my distraction and closed the door immediately.

"It's time to leave, Mr. Mellark," one of them says.

They stay on my side and bring me outside to the car where Prim and Effie sit silently.

The crowd doesn't cheer, but they stare.

I'm pushed into the car and I try to adjust to get my face out of Effie's wig. The flashing cameras blind me. I lean over to look at Prim. Her eyes are red and shimmering streaks of tears run down her cheeks.

Her life had so much value and importance compared to mine, to Katniss..to my father.

She was just a little girl. She was my responsibility and my promise.


	3. The Train to My Death

**A Train to My Death**

They pull me out of the car and push me through the crowd of silent people. The only noise is the click of the cameras that are surrounding me. I look at the crowd and try to find mom and Katniss. I can't see them. Their absence brings me almost to tears. I'm not ready for this. I don't want to leave.

They direct me to the steps which lead to the train. I've never been in a train before. Just seconds ago I was in a car for the first time. I was worried the train would make me as sick as the car ride. I didn't want to go on it. This was my last time here. I will never see District Twelve again. Buttercup, my cat, and Lady, my goat, are on their own now with me being gone. I'll never have my mom's food or hear her humming along as my sister sings our song. Those days are over. I can't look back on them or I'll cry again.

I'm in the train and the room is full of food I have never seen before. I've heard of some of the fruits, and the pastries look similar to the bakery's assortment, but I have never seen any of this stuff in District Twelve. I see a man already digging into the food behind the pudding display. He looks up and chocolate covers his upper lip. I giggle when he looks at us seriously. Haymitch is known to look and act ridiculous. He is the only living victor from District Twelve. He is known to be a drunk and a horrible mentor.

"I wouldn't laugh at me if I were you," he tries to point a finger at me, but his hand sloppily moves through the air. He smeared the chocolate on his sleeve and gulped the last of his drink. I thought he would have learned by now after being humiliated every year with his excessive drinking and nonsensical speeches, he'd lay off on the alcohol.

"Let's get you guys settled elsewhere. We'll have plenty of time to be introduced later," Effie moves us to another room and distracts us from Haymitch.

We're in one of the cabins that resembles a living room. The chairs are covered in a deep blue fabric. I have never seen a blue so dark and vibrant. She guided us to our seats and started to talk.

"I know this can be very overwhelming, but wait until you see the Capital!" she claps her hands together as if she is excited to go there. I am not like her. I do not want to go. I don't want to see President Snow. He scares me a lot. I think it's his eyes. They look evil to me.

She picks up the plate of cookies, "biscuit?"

She holds it in front of me. I pick one up. I've only had a cookie once. Katniss snatched some of the burnt ones from the bakery where Peeta worked. They didn't taste as good as this one. Peeta refused to have one even though Effie tried to make him saying that they were the 'best' in Panem. He is very quiet and seems cold towards Effie. He doesn't scare me though. I know he's strong and I hope I'll never have to fight with him, but the chances of me living that long are very small.

Silence filled the room and Effie was uncomfortable with that.

"I am going to go check on Haymitch," she walked away.

Her absence created a new kind of silence. A silence that we both could understand was melancholy.

"You should try a cookie. They taste very good," I tried to lighten the mood.

"I'm not hungry," he said. He seemed very restricted

"_Don't worry about the other boy. He won't hurt you," Katniss said. Her arms wrapped tightly around me and her lips rubbed against my ear._

"_Why?"_

"_Trust me. He won't lay a finger on you," she whispered._

"Did my sister talk to you?" I asked him.

"What?" Peeta said.

"Katniss? She said something to you, didn't she?" I said.

"How do you know?" he asked. His face was a lot redder now.

"She can scare people, even a tough guy like you," I giggled, "don't be afraid of talking to me. I'm the nicer sister."

"I'm not as tough as you think," he smiled.

"You have a better chance of winning than I do," I said honestly.

"Don't say that," his smile was gone.

I paused for a second and thought of what to say, "I'm... I am not that.. scared anymore, Peeta. If I do, by some miracle, come back from this, I don't want to go home. I don't want to have nightmares. My sister doesn't need me anymore.."

"No. Don't say that. She needs you," he interrupted, "she needs you more than anyone else."

"No, she needs you," I confess.

He doesn't say anything, but he stares at me.


	4. Coincidence

"Primrose…" I started to say, but before I could argue, she spoke.

"Call me Prim, please, it's what everyone calls me," she smiled but it faded, "Well, used to."

"Prim, you need to get this straight. Your sister doesn't need me after all of this. She made that very clear when she said I'd be dead if I come back and you don't," I told her. Her head jerked up.

"She doesn't mean that," she said, "I know she'd understand." She was so mature for being a twelve-year-old. I couldn't imagine myself four years ago being able to stay calm in this situation. I wasn't even that calm right now.

"It doesn't matter anyways, I have no chance. The odds are not in my favor," I said. She thought of me too highly and this false sense of hope would only end badly.

"You really think so?" she asked, "Is it really a coincidence that you and I were picked?"

"What are you trying to say, Prim?" I lean more forward wanting to hear her answer.

"Never mind," she looks down at her lap. Her fingers are tangled around the ribbon latched onto her dress. I want to ask her about what she meant, but I don't want to make her cry. That's the last thing I want to do.

"Do you want to look around?" I try to distract her from imagining the worst.

"Sure!" she responds.

We walk towards the door and I pick a few cookies on the way and hand her one, "you know I've always wanted to expand our collection of cookies, but we are never given enough rations to experiment." When she took the cookie, my mind flashed back to the day I tossed the bread to Katniss. I hated thinking of what I had done. I had burnt the bread that morning and mother took me out back and yelled at me as she usually does. I then saw her. Katniss, starving and cold, was lying against a tree in the pouring rain. I split the bread in half and throwing one in the pig pen and one on the ground near her. I was a jerk. I should have went over to her and handed it to her, but instead I tossed it as if she was an animal too. I had spent nights replaying that moment in my head and tried to forget what I had done, but it was impossible.

The door slides open without me touching a button or unlatching the door. It's like my presence is enough to open it. Prim looks through the crack where the door went, "Why does the door disappear like that? Do the capital people think it's too hard to open doors?"

I chuckle at her youthful innocence, but it is also depressing to watch. A child still questioning everything in the world is pushed into a place with too much hate and misery for them to understand why.

She will never understand.

This room has a table with six chairs. A lace table cloth drapes over the edges. Behind the dining set, a sofa and chairs is pushed against the wall. There is a light fixture above the table with crystals that reflect the light in all directions. I looked out the window to see a sunset across the fields. We then suddenly entered a tunnel. I could see my reflection now against the glass and Prim's was right beside mine. I smiled when she looked at me through the reflection, but then I hesitated. She looked so familiar. Her eyes reminded me of my father. They were blue unlike everyone else's in District Twelve. Even her golden hair was considered rare in the District. Only a few had those traits, including my father…and her mother. This was no more a smiling matter or a coincidence. This was too much for me to comprehend, but so blatant that I questioned myself for not noticing it earlier. I knew my father must have had some reasoning for telling me to take care of her, but I didn't expect the reasoning to be that the girl beside me was my… sister? I barely knew her, yet she was definitely my sister, or half since she isn't my mother's child. She was too nice to be my mother's child.

"Is something wrong?" she must have been staring at me this whole time.

"No," I lied, "not at all. I think I'm going to find my bedroom. I'm really tired. Do you mind?"

"No, I'll go find Effie," she walked the other way and I watched her. Did she know? When she said that the both of us being here might not be just a coincidence, was she hinting to me that she knew? I thought for a moment, and realized I was over analyzing it. I stood there for a while to let my discovery sink in. Primrose Everdeen, my sister, it was hard get my mind wrapped around that concept. It was unheard of for a married man and a married woman from different relationships to have a child.

Katniss, her sister is my sister, yet we were not related. I couldn't fathom how awkward it would have been if Katniss was actually my sister, but Katniss couldn't have been. She had her father's eyes. I walk to the next cabin and to the next ignoring all that I walk by. I still try to understand our situation

Then it all ties together. It hits me as fast as the train is moving. My knees wobble and I stumble onto the floor. Prim and I are in the Hunger Games. Brother and sister, fighting for our lives, but we cannot come out alive together. My heart sinks.

How can I go on knowing my sister is going to die? My stomach turns as the thought rolls through my head and the chills run down my spine.

I can't.


	5. First Impressions

**First Impressions**

The soft rumbling of the train wakes me up from my sleep. An Avox is standing across the room waiting to assist me. I don't like it when they are around because I feel bad. I cannot believe people are servants because they want freedom. I have the urge to talk to them, at least say thank you or acknowledge their existence, but Effie already got mad at me for doing that. Whenever I see them, I think of their tongues being pulled out. It must be so painful. They wear all red as though they arecovered in blood. She hands me clean clothes. I nod my head, I'm not sure if that is appropriate, but I do it anyways. She leaves the room.

I go to the shower. The water is warm. It covers me like a wool blanket. I'm amazed by the fact that the water on a train is hotter than the water in a house. We usually have to put water under a stove to get it warm, but here I only have to touch a button. I wonder what the capital people do with all this extra time they get from only needing to touch buttons to get things. I bet they just touch more buttons and get more stuff.

I miss seeing all the fields fly by as we glided through Panem, now we are getting into the mountains and there is not much to see in a tunnel.

There is a knock on the door and Effie's voice rings through the wood, "Prim, breakfast is ready, and we would love you to join!"

"In a minute," I yell to her. I can hear her gasp a little by my response and her shoes bang against the floor, finally leaving the car.

I looked at the bright clothes the Avox gave me. I threw them on the ground and got my dress. I wanted to be comfortable and not feel restrained in Capitol clothing. I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn't know what to do with my hair. My mom or Katniss always braided it. I brushed through it and let it be. I went out to the hallway and headed to the dining car. Goosebumps rose on my arms. The hall was cold and my skin was still warm from the shower.

I heard Haymitch talking to Peeta, "if this is true, it would change every…" He stopped when I walked into the room.

"What's wrong?" I asked them.

"Nothing," Effie smiled, "Come, darling, sit down and have something to eat!"

I knew something was up. I stared at Peeta to get some answers, but he avoided my eyes.

I sat down next to Effie and violently grabbed the spoon. I devoured the soup, making a bashing noise with every spoonful to show my anger. I hated secrets more than anything else. Secrets led to lies, which led to betrayal. I wanted to scream, but Effie was already filling the air with her annoying high pitched voice. She was angry with me too. She said I was unladylike. I wanted to shout at her too. I wasn't going to be living long, so I have the right to eat my soup which ever way I want. She thought all of this was exciting, but she wasn't the one who was going to die in a matter of days. She was going to drink a cup of tea while watching us die on a silver screen. I never was this frustrated before. I never get this mad. The only time I was truly mad before this was when Katniss was going to kill my cat, Buttercup.

"Excuse me," I stood up and left the room. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I ran into my room and slammed the door.

I pressed my face hard against the pillow and screamed. My fists were clenched and my yelling turned into cries. The pillow was getting wet from my tears, so I turned it around to the dry side. I really wanted to go home. Although this bed is like a cloud, I miss Katniss right next to me. I will never see her again and that is what hurts the most.

A few knocks on my door and I am awake. This is the day I go to the Capitol.

"Wake up, Prim," Effie chirps. She opens the door and looks at me, almost with disappointment. I don't know if it's my messy hair or the fact that I, the scrawny child, was her tribute.

"Come on, lets get your hair fixed," I guess it's the hair this time, "Avox! Come fix this!" she points to me.

The Avox nods and goes to a drawer. She picks up a fancy brush. Her hands gently take the braids out and the brush massages my scalp as she goes through it. Her gentleness reminds me of mother. She always put my hair in braids every morning. On special occasions, she put ribbons at the end of them. I wanted to cry again, but Effie was standing right in front of me and I didn't want her to go crazy.

We walked out of the room and I saw the people. I don't even know if they are people. I knew they were different, but I didn't expect this. Some of them have different colored skin, some are as blue as my dress. They wear clothes like Effie's; I'm not very surprised by that. They smile widely almost to show off their bright teeth. We went to the room we first were in. Peeta and Haymitch are there.

"You ready, kiddo?" Haymitch says, "don't be nervous. They just want to see your face. They ain't going to hurt you." He laughed.

I gave him a fake smile and nodded. I hid my shaking hands behind me. The trains slowed down to a halt. The door immediately opened and the yelling was deafening. I plugged my ears, but Effie yanked my arm, "do not be impolite! These people love you! Smile and show them that you feel the same!"

But I don't.

I was walking down the stairs and the fresh air hit me. It smelled very clean, but nothing like the lovely air in the forests. They are yelling my name and Peeta's. I don't understand why people have come to see me. I am not a career or anything special.

Quickly we are taken away into a building. They make us go into this small metal room and it goes up and down. When the doors open, we are on another floor. A group of people in white clothing come forward.

"This is your prep team, Prim," Effie said, "They will get you tidied up for the games."

They pulled me towards a shower head and had me fully exposed. Thankfully there was a curtain surrounding. They scrubbed everywhere, even the bottom of my feet. My skin was turning red and it started to hurt. I wanted to tell them to stop, but I was scared. After that, they put me down on a hard bed and took all the hair off my body except for the top of my head. It hurt for a few seconds after every time they pulled off the hair. They started using a metal pincher and started attacking my eyebrows. I was afraid they plucked them all off, but when I looked in the mirror, they were still there. I laid their still waiting for them to stop. I really wanted to leave.

Once they finished, they lead me to a completely white room with nothing but two chairs. They told me to wait a few minutes.

A man came into the room. He had very curly hair and piercings that ran along his ears. He kind of looked like a cat to me. He seemed calmer than the other people here. He wasn't superficial like the rest of them. For some reason, I trusted him.

"Hello, Primrose, I'm Cinna, your stylist," he kneels down to my height and looked into my eyes with sincerity, "I am terribly sorry that you are here. You are a very brave young lady and I want that to show in the Parade," he stared at me for a few seconds,"you have beautiful eyes. Blue isn't very common in district twelve, is it?" He moves back and sits in the chair beside me.

"No, I am..was the only one in my class with blue eyes," I tell him.

"I think they will look fantastic with your outfit," he smiled.

"What is it going to look like?" I imagined my outfit to be like the coal miner uniform. They always end up doing that.

"I'm not going to dress you up as a your district. You are much more than that. You are passion. You are life. You are fire," he was very fanatical.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked.

"I cannot give you all the details, but I hope are not afraid of flames," he smiled.

"What? Are you setting me on fire?" I started to panic inside.

"No! Just wait and you'll see," he left me at that and walked away.

I sat there for a few minutes. I started swaying my legs back and forth cause me feet didn't touch the ground.

Effie finally came into collect me, "come on, darling, we are heading up to the pent house!"

I got up and dragged my feet behind her. I wanted to talk to Cinna longer. He seemed to be the only person that understood me. He treats me as an equal, as though I'm not anyone special. He's honest and that's very refreshing.


End file.
